Soaring Success

CLEARWATER - Passengers flying tiny SeaCoast Airlines between St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and Key West gather in what looks more like a cozy family room than an airport terminal.

Enough stuffed chairs are scattered about SeaCoast's Pinellas County headquarters to accommodate the nine passengers who fill the flights aboard a twin-prop Navajo Chieftain.

Snapshots of casually dressed travelers decorate the waiting room. It's possible that SeaCoast owner Mark Beynart, a former Piedmont Airlines pilot, will poke his head out of his office to meet the passengers.

And if the weather cooperates, especially during cooler winter months, SeaCoast pilots fly at an altitude of 1,000 feet between Clearwater and Sanibel Island, calling out the sights before the flight concludes with its over-the-water segment to Key West International Airport.

SeaCoast's clientele, many of whom are repeat customers in an operation that seemingly operates beyond the general public's eye, clearly enjoy a different experience from those at the airport's main terminal a couple of hundred yards away.

But what really sets Beynart's operation apart from most of the larger airlines is that it's growing and making money.

"We had the highest revenue in our history last month, about $100,000," Beynart said.

The number of SeaCoast passengers increased 17 percent between 2005 and 2006, 24 percent between 2006 and 2007 and 31 percent the first five months of this year compared with the same period a year ago.

"We don't really have a business model, and we don't have any competition, just our little niche," Beynart said. He mostly keeps up with the airline's myriad regulatory and financial paperwork, and leaves the flying to a handful of pilots, including some who are commercial jet pilots with larger carriers such as Allegiant Air.

Beynart's relaxed outlook, however, belies a business sense honed over decades in the turbulent airline industry. He employs a sharply differentiated ticket pricing strategy from what most major airlines use, and regularly keeps in touch with a couple of "friends of the airline" who can provide marketing expertise and a long-term industry perspective, if needed.

Most major airlines, with the prominent exception of Southwest, have adopted an a la carte pricing strategy to help contend with today's spiraling fuel costs. Passengers face an increasing array of separate charges for checked baggage, preferred aisle or window seating, snacks and other items once provided for no charge.

Not so with SeaCoast. Beynart adjusts the price of a ticket between Pinellas and Key West on a daily basis if need be with a surcharge tied to the price of aviation fuel, which now costs about $6.70 a gallon.

A year ago, the fuel surcharge for a round trip on the airline's mainstay route was about $12. Now it's $45. The base fare for those booking first ranges from $99 to $130 each way, and can reach as high as $204 each way.

Even with the fuel surcharge added to base fare, passengers find SeaCoast a bargain, although securing a ticket online can become an adventure.

Just because the online computer booking shows flights are booked, like those over the next few weekends, if you call and indicate when you want to fly, SeaCoast might put together enough passengers to add a special flight.

"I called the day before flying from Key West to Clearwater and paid $372 round trip," said Kelly Anson, an employee at Naval Air Station Key West, who visits her grandparents in Zephyrhills. "Other airlines and schedules would have cost between $500 and $600 when I wanted to fly."

Frank Chivas, who owns the BayStar Restaurant Group - with five restaurants in Pinellas County including the Salt Rock Grill and Marlin Darlin Grill - is both a frequent flyer to his second home in Key West and a friend of Beynart's.

"When you get a different pilot, you get a different lesson in flight about West Florida," Chivas said.

At one point, Chivas offered to buy the airline if Beynart would continue to operate it.

"Now why would I want to do that, if I still had to work," Beynart said, enjoying a laugh with Chivas, who promotes the airline among his restaurant patrons.

Another of Beynart's boosters is Bill Krusen, who has had Tampa business interests for five decades and flew for Pan American Grace Airways before retiring and heading the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority. Krusen leases the SeaCoast aircraft to Beynart.

"It just makes sense for Mark to set a fuel surcharge, and it looks like it's paying off for him and his passengers," Krusen said. "I wish the major airlines would do it more like SeaCoast does. It may be SeaCoast is the last airline standing, the way things are going."